Ofsted head Sir Michael Wilshaw tells head teachers to "stop moaning"

Head teachers should stop "moaning" and get on with the job, the
chief inspector of schools has said.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schoolsPhoto: Geoff Pugh

By Julie Henry, Education Correspondent

6:13PM GMT 17 Nov 2012

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, said that being a head teacher was a brilliant, well paid job and that school leaders had no grounds to complain.

His comments, at the London Festival of Education, come ten days before Ofsted's annual report, published on Nov 27, which will focus heavily on the quality of leadership in England's primary and secondary schools.

The comments risk further infuriating the teaching profession which has recently been told by Sir Michael that there is no stress in teaching and that staff who are out the school gates at 3.30pm should be paid less.

"I have no time for head teachers who go around moaning," Sir Michael told heads, teachers and academics at the Institute of Education, in London. "They have to get on and do it.

"They are now paid well – they are paid much better than ever. All the resources are in the schools. They have got to grasp the nettle and improve their schools and I have little time for heads who don't accept the challenge."

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The chief inspector added that even when he was running a failing school, trying to turn it around, being in charge was "a brilliant job".

Since his appointment in January, Sir Michael, the former head teacher of Mossborne Academy, in Hackney, has proved a controversial figure, issuing a string of comments that have enraged teachers. In one speech he said that if morale in the staffroom was low, the head could be assured he was doing something right.

Sir Michael revealed that this week's annual report will, for the first time, publish data showing the regional differences in how successful schools are at tackling the attainment gap. London, which has seen a rapid improvement in results in some schools, will be singled out for praise.

Earlier in the day, Michael Gove, the education secretary, was heckled when he told the packed conference that some head teachers had low expectations of what their pupils could achieve.

"Not everyone does have high ambitions for their children," he said. "I'm sorry but part of my responsibility is to point out that there are schools that are inadequate and there are clearly people running those schools who do not have such high ambitions for the children there. It is manifestly the case that there are schools that are not good enough in this country."